Council Meeting Recap

It was another Council meeting night with large amounts of snow expected, so the meeting was quick but super productive!

Council members in attendance: J. Nelson, Schermoly, R. Nelson, Poling, Myers (via phone), Morehead, Runion, McFadden, Odell, and Gallagher.

Here is an outline of the City Council meeting on February 19th:

Approved ten (10) resolutions designating city officials and staff authorized to act on behalf of the City for investments and financial transactions
Approved the purchase of three (3) 2019 Ford Police Interceptor utility vehicles
Approved the 2019 Exterior Grant Program with the following changes:
- Raised the maximum appraised home value for eligibility to $225,000.
- Added an allowance for trash container screening (Ordinance 15-203) projects to the program with lower thresholds for acceptance:
  - [The construction costs must be a minimum investment of $2,500], with the exception of trash container screening projects.
  - Trash screening projects will be reimbursed at 50% of the total construction costs or $100, whichever is less.
  - Examples of trash container screenings that would qualify for the program:

Approved the construction contract with Centric Projects, LLC for Wassmer Park and Porter Park improvements.
Approved the purchase of play equipment for Wassmer Park.
Heard the Presentation on Phase 1 of Village Vision Update by Gould Evans Architects. Here are some highlights, many of which will not be a surprise:
- Prairie Village residents in the 35-64 year-old demographic decreased by 5%
- Relatively high median age of 38.8 years old
- Owner-occupied housing is decreasing while we have an increasing proportion of renters
- +159 New homes built since 2012
- Lack of diverse housing types
- Rapidly increasing housing value
- Replacement of older housing stock may result in a loss of affordable housing options in neighborhoods currently with lower home values
- A loss of modestly-priced homes may deter aging residents from retaining their home, and younger people from buying a home
Approved the 2020 Budget Calendar
Discussed and approved further exploration of the possibility of a PV aquatic/community center again. Reasons:
- It’s been 7 yrs since last study
- Many requests/comments about a facility from citizens survey
- Aging Paul Henson YMCA facility
- Major improvement coming soon to Harmon park/pool complex
- Here’s the report from 2012: https://www.pvkansas.com/city-government/projects/community-center-feasibility-study

The Mayor announced that the previously scheduled KCP&L meeting to discuss residents’ (and council’s) concerns about the high frequencey of power outages was postponed due to the winter storm last week. KCP&L is using this time, however, to gather more information regarding PV’s outage history and possible mitigation measures moving forward. Council hopes to have an update at the next meeting.

There were actually several more items from Staff reports, but this post is way too long already. Oops!

If you’d like to watch the proceedings yourself, all Council meetings are live streamed and available here after the meeting as well: https://www.pvkansas.com/city-government/city-council-meeting-streaming !

February R.G. Endres Gallery Featured Artists: Shelby Pinderville, Kathleen Kirch, Jason Wagner
February 22 Coffee with a Cop
March R.G. Endres Gallery Featured Artists: Layla McDill, Crystal Nederman, Paula Acheson
March 4 City Council Meeting
March 8 Artist Reception in the R.G. Endres Gallery

Take care and reach out if you have any questions or concerns,